Many electronic devices comprise a number of sensing and/or actuation elements for interacting with their environment. In such devices, an electronic circuit is coupled to the different elements. For easy replacement of either the electronic circuit, or the sensing/actuating parts of the electronic device, it may be preferable to provide the electronic device in the form of a first unit comprising the electronic circuit and a separate second unit comprising the elements. A connector should be provided for coupling the first unit and the second unit. If the electronic device comprises many sensing/actuating elements and the connector is frequently disconnected and reconnected, some of the connections may fail. Such connection failures may arise from, e.g., mechanical damage or contaminated connection points. Especially for electronic devices with a medical function, e.g. EEG, ECG or EMG devices, such connection failures may have undesired and even harmful consequences.
For example, many implanted medical devices contain a variety of sensor (e.g. biosensor, or recording electrode) and/or actuation elements (e.g. stimulation electrodes). The sensor and/or actuation elements are implanted in the patient's body, e.g. in brain tissue. Electronic circuits are needed for the read out of the sensor elements and the activation of the actuation elements. Preferably, the electronics are contained in a container which is separated from the carrier of the sensing or actuating elements. As the electronics may fail or have a limited lifetime it is often desirable to be able to connect or disconnect the electronics and sensor or actuation elements. A known example of this is a neuro stimulator implant consisting of an implanted pulse-generator (IPG) unit that contains the battery and electronics and via a biomedical connector and lead-wire is physically and electrically connected to the actuating electrodes that are implanted in the brain tissue.
For assuring proper functioning of the implantable medical device the connector should be reliably and repeatedly connected, disconnected and reconnected to a unit comprising the electronic circuit, e.g. for replacement or revision purposes. Connection and reconnection usually occurs under surgical conditions. E.g. blood, body fluids, tissue debris or other materials may contaminate the connector surface. Also the cleaning or drying agents used such as cotton or other materials such as dental cement, bone cement, glue etc, may lead to contamination of the connector surface. As a result part of the physical or electronic connections between the electronics and sensor or actuation elements becomes obscured. This may eventually lead to (partial) device failure, e.g. because not all sensor or actuation elements can be addressed by the electronics unit.